This page is dedicated to all those RAF Police who have been killed whilst performing their duty or who have died whilst serving in the RAF. Records of casualties maintained by the RAF Records Office are not filed under branch so the task of identifying RAF Police from the vast archive is not straightforward. 1968, is the only year on record which states that not a single British serviceman or woman was killed on active service anywhere in the world.

Thursday, 14 April 2016

1918
– 1939

Records
are available, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database but
not under any separate heading of RAF Police or RAF Provost Branch.
As such, if you can help identify any member of the branch who was
killed or died whilst serving over this period, then please contact
the author.

30-May-1935
A number of RAF Service Police NCOs were killed at RAF Quetta in NW
India after much of the base was destroyed by an earthquake which
measured 7.5 on the Ritcher
Scale.

1939
- 1945

Unknown
number of RAF provost officers, RAF Police warrant officers and RAF
Police NCOs who were killed during World War II 1939 - 1945. If you
can help identify any member of the branch who was killed or died
whilst serving over this period, then please contact the author.

18-Aug-1942
Cpl Charles Samual Elsey (929549) 29, RAF Sheerness, UK. Cpl Elsey
was accidentally shot in the barracks on 09-Aug-1942 by a colleague
who was fooling around with a loaded revolver. The bullet entered his
shoulder and penetrated his spine paralysing him. He died in County
Hospital, Minster Kent (according to a letter from the Records Office
dated 21-Aug-1942 although his death certificate says he died in
Hurstwood Hospital, Haywards Heath).

23-Aug-1942
Cpl Alfred Henderson (1003999), involved in aircraft crash at RAF
Andreas on the Isle of Man and died a few days later as a result of
serious head injuries. Buried in Stirling Scotland. The Whitley
stalled on take-off from RAF Andreas, crashing at West Kimmeragh Farm
just outside the airfield killing most of those on board. Wing
Commander Edward Vincent Knowles DFC, his girlfriend Thelma and his
friend Major Tait were killed instantly. It is rumoured that it was
purely a case of showing off that proved fatal.

26-Jun-1943
Cpl Albert Rich (1448643), who had been held as a Japanese POW on
Batavia and in the Moluccas (Haruku) died on Haruku and is buried at
the Ambon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery (Grave Ref 14.D.5).

23-Feb-1944
Cpl James Ritchie Garriock (541034) 29, who had been held as a
Japanese POW on Batavia and in the Moluccas (Haruku) died on Haruku
and is buried at the Ambon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery (Grave
Ref 14.A.9).

22-Oct-1944
Cpl Francis Bleakley (1680748), Born 15-Apr-1905. He was killed in
North Africa whilst on motorcycle duty.

Gunned
down by EOKA terrorists on the Limassol bypass and died en-route to
hospital. He was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Commendation for
Brave Conduct. From Down, Co. Down, he is buried at Wayne’s Keep
Plot 14 Row C Grave 7.

30-Oct-1972
Cpl Thomas William Severnes (Y2402697) 42, RAF Innsworth UK. (He was
in the group consisting of himself in a hire car and a Landrover with
Norman Maskrey in the Acropolis area of Nicosia Cyprus where they
were extracting RAF Living-Out people from the area during the
Turk/Greek dispute in 1961-2. They came under fire from the Turks and
Thomas was badly injured, although he made a recovery of sorts he
still had a bullet lodged near his heart).

12-May-2012
Cpl Brent John McCarthy (30059891) (25), No 7 RAFP Sqn RAF Brize
Norton, UK. KIA in Afghanistan after being shot dead by a rogue
member of the Afghan National Police in Lashkar Gah, Helmand
province.

2013

No
records are available, but if you can help identify any member of the
branch who was killed or died whilst serving over this period, then
please contact the author.

2014

No
records are available, but if you can help identify any member of the
branch who was killed or died whilst serving over this period, then
please contact the author.

2015

No
records are available, but if you can help identify any member of the
branch who was killed or died whilst serving over this period, then
please contact the author.

2016

No
records are available, but if you can help identify any member of the
branch who was killed or died whilst serving over this period, then
please contact the author.2017 23-Sep-2017 Cpl Irene Wendy Lifke (30119011) 58, No 3TPS, RAF Honington UK.

List
updated 23 Oct 2016If you are signed up to Facebook, I have created a RAF Police Memorial page that lists former members of the RAF Police who have passed away after leaving the service. This is the link to join the page: